Recently I got the awesome opportunity to attend Red Robin’s Kids Cook Off Finale in Denver, Colorado! One of the big reasons I got the opportunity to attend is because we had a finalist from Fresno, California! This year Red Robin had a local blogger accompany each finalist.

Malia a sweet 7 year old little girl (same age as my NerdPie) who is just a rock star! I have already told you about this worldly girl and her international travels! She is showed up ready to play! She had an awesome burger, her speech memorized and a smile to melt all hearts!

After checking into the hotel Malia was off to the kitchen to practice making her burger! For the competition the finalists made their burger in front of everyone for the judges.

The Red Robin crew had all her materials prepped. They made sure that all the materials were right and that she was ready to put it together all by herself. Then they showed her the Red Robin way to wrap a burger. Did you know those little papers are called diapers?

There is Malia’s burger! Her Tropical Hawaiian Turkey Burger was so good! The part that I found most impressive was that the mango onion relish recipe was developed by her and her mom! Nothing out of a bottle there! For the competition the next day she made her burger for an esteemed panel of judges including a producer from Food Network!

Red Robin treated the kids so well and went all out! They had an AP photographer come in to take press pictures of the kids and it was such a kick to see her get interviewed just like on the red carpet! While she didn’t win, I think Malia really enjoyed the royal treatment! I am sure that this has been an experience that she will never forget!

If you want to read about the other finalists or get the cookbook with all the recipes (plus a few more) just hop over to Red Robin’s Kids Cook Off site! The winning burger (Donovan’s Mt. Vesuvius Burger) will be on sale later in 2011 with a portion of all the sales going to benefit the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children! Even though I really wanted Malia to win, I must say that Donovan’s burger but more on that later;)!